the journey of a twentysomething in New York City living with type 1 diabetes

Survived!

October 29, 2007

The Answer: 22 years, 2 months and three weeks.

What is the question?

Give up?

The amount of time it took before Allison Blass had to buckle down and pump her own gas because she has a terrible sense of direction and spent far too much time in Pennsylvania on her way back to New Jersey thus running her tank empty on I-95.

Note to self: Buy a map!

And you want to know something? It was horrible! Maybe it’s because I’m from Oregon and I’m just naturally incapable of pumping my own gas, but seriously, I hated it.That and the little card reader rejected my debit card and almost rejected my credit card before it finally worked. Sigh. And it smells bad and the knozzle is heavy and… and… it sucked!

Okay, it wasn’t a huge deal, but still, I’m glad I live in the only two states in the Union that doesn’t allow self-service. And if I ever move to NYC or Philly or Boston (all places I would love to live) I have already decided I just won’t have a car!

Anyway, the weekend was good… though I’m definitely tired of all this driving. First D.C, and then this weekend, I did an 80-mile round trip to western NJ because I’m going to be babysitting for a 3-year-old with diabetes and his two older brothers. First gig is this Saturday. Yay! They are such cute kids. I’m excited to play with children again. Grown-ups can get so tiresome sometimes. Then yesterday I drove down to Philly for a grand total of 5 hours. I spent as much time driving as I did actually there, which wasn’t very good planning on my part. My friend Jamie invited me to go with her family and friend Lisa to the Philly Walk to Cure Diabetes and I was like “sure, what the heck.” I was going to call people and tell them I was coming, but I totally forgot, so when we were done, I was just like “well, I guess I’ll go home,” which was fine because I had to get up at 6 a.m. in order to make it down there in time so I was wiped out.

By the way, I would like to state (again) for the record that New Jersey roads are terrible. I swear, this state is like a freaking labyrinth. I have driven south on I-95 three times so far and each time I go down and each time I come back, I’ve gone a different way! I know two completely separate ways of getting in and out of Philly, and then driving completely past Philadelphia is a route all on its own.

I never thought the thing I would miss most about Oregon is its roads…

I’m not a huge fan of New Jersey myself. I lived in PA, 30 minutes north of Philly my whole life, and only took 95 when I went to the Eagles/ Phillies games or Maryland. I hated it, I hated going over the bridge into Jersey. The roads were ugly, bumpy, too many potholes. Now that I live in Florida all I see is 95 and people who don’t know how to drive and go from 0-65 from one stop light to the next, I kind of miss those roads up there. I miss driving down the road and actually seeing somebody I know. But anyway, did you get to run up the Rocky steps in Philly?

You’ll get used to it – the driving part… You’ll even learn how to pump gas, I did! Putting air in tires though – still can’t do! I was about your age when I started driving up and down the NJ Turnpike, the GS Parkway and I 95. I still hold my breath at times when we go south. It’s always an experience.